It's never good when a story that you've slapped down as false gets up and slaps you back - as the NAFTA story has just done to the Obama campaign. The AP reports of a memo surfacing that appears to support the original version of the story that an Obama advisor told Canadian government officials that Obama's railing against NAFTA was more or less just campaign rhetoric.

The Obama campaign is obviously decrying the news, saying that the memo was an inaccurate interpretation of their advisor's remarks, but Hillary Clinton jumped on the news, releasing this statement:

I think that after days of denial, the Obama campaign was confronted with a memo of a meeting - it was my understanding - in which there was a discussion of NAFTA. And it raises questions about Senator Obama coming to Ohio and giving speeches about NAFTA and having his chief economic advisor tell the Canadian government that it was just political rhetoric.

I don't think people should come to Ohio and tell the people of Ohio one thing and then have your campaign tell a foreign government something else behind closed doors. That's the kind of difference between talk and action and that I've been pointing out in this campaign. I think the questions should be directed at Senator Obama.

I don't think people should come to Ohio and you both give speeches that are very critical of NAFTA and you send out misleading and false information about my positions regarding NAFTA and then we find out that your chief economic advisor has gone to a foreign government and basically done the old wink-wink, don't pay any attention this is just political rhetoric.

As with so many other things in this campaign, Clinton has little if any room to blast the Obama campaign for speaking out of both sides of its mouth on NAFTA. Then again, to the extent Clinton can get hold of something - anything, at this point - that puts traction on her argument that Obama is a purveyor of pretty political rhetoric and nothing more - "that's not change you can believe in," her staffers always points out - she's playing the last 24 hours of this critical campaign before Super Tuesday II on offense while Obama is doing the opposite.

UPDATE: The Obama campaign responded with this statement from spokesman Bill Burton:

"Senator Clinton knows full well that she's not telling the truth on this story, and that her blatant distortion is just part of her campaign's stated strategy to throw the kitchen sink at Senator Obama in the closing days of this campaign. The truth is, Senator Clinton called NAFTA a victory and has switched positions for raw political reasons. Her false attack won't protect American workers, but as President, Senator Obama will."